Galatians chapter 6. I've entitled
this message, The Attitude of Spiritual Fruit. The Attitude of Spiritual Fruit. I've often even desired to entitle
this, The Responsibility of God's People. The responsibility of
those who are walking by this in the spirit of god let's read
these first ten verses together brethren if a man be overtaken
in a fall you which are spiritual restore section one in the spirit
of maintenance considering by sale lest i'll be tempted barely
one another's burden and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man
think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth
himself. But let every man prove his own
work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and
not in another. For every man shall bear his
own burden. Let him that is taught in the
word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.
Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his
flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth
to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting and let
us not be weary and well doing for in due season you shall reap
if we faint not as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto
all men especially unto them who are of the household of faith
now my message this morning is concerning the believers work
the believer's responsibility, or the believer's attitude concerning
the fruits of the Spirit. And the Apostle in the previous
verse says this, if, in verse 25, look at that, if we live
in the Spirit. If we belong to Christ, if we
live in the Spirit, if we are His by election, if we are His
by redemption, if we have been called by the Spirit to life
and faith, the only reasonable thing, the only reasonable response
and result of those born of the Spirit of God is this, then Let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us walk in the Spirit. Paul
testifies of before this, of the constant warfare in the believer's
heart. The flesh, he said, that which
is born of the Adamic nature, that old man that can do nothing
but sin. The flesh lusteth against the
Spirit. Against the new nature that is
born of God that is holy and cannot sin, the flesh is always
desiring to fulfill its lust and obey the wicked passions
which is totally opposed to what the new man wants. The new man
desires only to do that which is right, only to do that which
is holy, only to do that which is pleasing unto God. And so
then the Spirit is always against the flesh, the new nature is
always against and always putting down the old man. And so what is the result of
this? You cannot do what you would. It is a constant struggle,
a constant battle, so that the flesh, praise God, cannot do
what it wants. But what a sorrow it is for us
that the Spirit cannot do what it wants, to be holy. That's why Paul began to weep
and say, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
this rotting corpse about my neck? This is the believer's
lot in this world. And you see the works of the
flesh. Paul manifests them in verses 19 through 21. He said,
now these are the works of the flesh. They're manifest with
ease. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, unclean thoughts,
impure thoughts, lasciviousness, wantonness, idolatry, witchcraft,
hatred, variance. That's an argumentative attitude.
emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness,
reveling, and such like, of which I tell you before, and I've told
you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit
the kingdom of God." Don't you know that? Isn't that
plain and obvious, that they which do such things What does
he mean by that? Because believers are prone and
capable of doing any of these things. What he means by this
is a constant perpetual tenor of a man's life is spent in sin. Constantly. Those who profess to believe
in Christ, but spend their life in adultery, fornication, lasciviousness,
any of these works of the flesh, and such like." Paul said, that's
not even exhaustive. There's plenty more where that
came from. If you live after the flesh, you shall die. That's what the Scriptures tell
us. I know of a man, this man, every time he sees me, he wants
to talk to me of the gospel and so forth, and he He professes
to be a believer in Christ and you can't move him from it. He
really believes that he is. He joined a church, he was baptized,
he always desires someone to give him assurance that he is.
But this man lives his whole life in adultery and fornication. His whole life is spent in drunkenness
and riotous living. I tell you, that man is not a
believer in Christ. God's people are capable of such
things, but God does not allow His people to live continually
in such things. But those who are born of God,
those who are born of God, we have what Paul here calls the
fruit of the Spirit. Now, the fruit of the Spirit,
verse 22, is Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such there is no law. They that are Christ have crucified
the flesh with the affections and the lusts. All who are born
of God have, listen to me, have the fruit of the Spirit. Now, I want to point out something
that's obvious here. Did you notice that the fruit
of the Spirit is not fruits? It is singular. In other words,
to have the fruit of the Spirit is to have all of these things. All of these things are the fruit
of the Spirit. You cannot have love without
faith. You cannot have peace without joy. You cannot have
long-suffering without gentleness. Meekness without gentleness.
All of these things go together. They are separated. We can see
them individually. We can examine them individually. But you cannot have one without
the other. They are singularly the fruit
of the Spirit. And so then, if you live in the
Spirit, Paul says, then you have all the fruit of the Spirit. All the fruit of the Spirit.
also see that this fruit, this is not the fruit of the believer. This is not produced by you or
me. It is the fruit of who? The Spirit. The Spirit is the producer of
this fruit. It is produced only in a certain
group of people. Only those who live by the Spirit,
only those who are in union with Christ by faith, have this fruit. Listen to what Jesus said. You
remember in John 15, He said, Abide in Me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit
except it abide in the vine, no more can you except you abide
in Me. I am the vine and you are the
branches. He that abideth in me. He that
liveth in me. He that is in union with me. Vital, living union with Christ. Listen to what he says. He that
is in union with me, abideth with me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit. And without me, what can you
do? What can you do, believer, without Him? Without union with
Him, you can do what? Nothing. You are as a branch
cut off and withered. You will die and you can do none
of these things. You cannot love. You cannot have
faith. You cannot be meek. You cannot
have joy. You cannot have peace. You cannot
have any of these things except you abide in Christ by faith. So we who live by the Spirit
of God know that we can do nothing except we abide in Christ. And so when the Holy Spirit produces
this faith, love, and joy, and long-suffering, temptness, meekness,
patience, who gets the glory? If you are able by the Spirit
of God to exercise all of these things, who gets the glory for
it all? God. Everything is of God. All things are of God. God receives
the glory. Therefore, when you do these
things, never ever look at them as evidence of your salvation. Never. They are not meant for
you to look on or trust in. And so then, thirdly, the fruit
of the Spirit is to grow. It will grow in every believer. Every believer has all of the
fruit of the Spirit, but we know this, it's in a measure, isn't
it? We don't love like our new man
longs to love. We do not believe as we know
we should believe. We do not, we are not meek and
long-suffering as we should be. But praise God that these fruits
do not remain small. They grow. They grow. You remember the parable of the
sower? You remember how God prepares the ground of the heart? And
He said this, Other fell on good ground and did yield fruit that
sprang up and increased. Some brought forth thirty, some
sixty, and some a hundredfold. This is true of us. God prepared
our heart. He plowed up our hearts. He planted
the seed. He sent a messenger. The seed
was cast. He planted the seed in our hearts
and life sprang up and we believed that the first fruit. We believed
on Christ, the fruit of the Spirit. The first one that came was faith. And as we grow in grace, God
gives fruit as He sees fit, some 30, some 60, some 100, but listen,
all bear fruit. All of us. Believer, are you weak in your
love? Examine yourself. Are we weak in faith? Are we too proud? Are we not patient, kind, gentle? Do we long for these things?
Then herein is hope. fruit grows. You may increase
in faith. You may increase in love. You
may increase in goodness and temperance and all of this fruit
of the Spirit. Peter says this, as newborn babes
desire the sincere milk of the Word, why? That we may grow thereby. You want to know how to grow?
Here it is. By the sincere milk of the Word. By the Word of God
we grow. If we fail to read and feed on
this Word, do not suspect that your faith and your love will
grow. I'm comforted in this, that God cannot deny Himself.
Scripture says, even if we believe not, even if our faith is so
much diminished that there is no sight of it, God says He will
not forsake His own. That's comforting, isn't it?
What that should do is cause our faith and love to grow. Doesn't
it move you to love, having such love cast on you? It should. We grow by the Word of God. And
later on in 2 Peter 3 and verse 18, he says, "...but grow in
the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." In 2 Thessalonians, the Apostle,
he gives thanks to God. These believers in Thessalonica,
they had grown, and the Apostle took notice of that. And he thanked
who? Them? No, he thanked God. He said this in 1 Thessalonians
1 and 3, "...we are bound to thank God always for you, brethren,
as it is meat, as it is good, because that your faith groweth
exceedingly, and your love, every one of you all toward each other,
aboundeth." Now, wouldn't that be a thing to be said about this
church? Would to God that someone would
see this church and be able to thank God for our faith and our
love. That our faith would grow exceedingly
and our love would abound toward one another so that it cannot
be denied. Paul said, I saw it. Now one
thing about it, we don't normally see it. When we do see it in
God's people, we should give thanks. Praise God that we can
grow in faith. So my question then is this.
Seeing these things are true, do you live in the Spirit? Are
you living by the Spirit? Has the Spirit quickened you
to life? Then what are we to do? What
is our responsibility in this? Let us walk in the Spirit. Let us walk in the Spirit. You know what this means? It
means a believer can be living in the Spirit and yet not walking
in the Spirit. What does that mean? We're not
obeying. We're not fulfilling what God has given us to do.
Believers can and do fall into great sin. Is that walking in
the Spirit? Or is that walking after the
flesh? We know it's walking after the flesh, not after the Spirit. So then, believer, in the very
teeth of your temptations and trials, look to Christ. You want to know what walking
the Spirit is? Simply, it is looking to Christ. It is always
looking by faith to Christ. In the teeth of your temptation,
by looking to Christ, temptation fades. In the very fires of your affliction,
look to Jesus, and the flame shall not hurt you. In the darkness
of depression and sorrow, look to Christ, for He alone is the
light and hope of deliverance. This is what it is to walk in
the Spirit, to look by faith to Christ. Now then, if you are
looking to faith by Christ, Paul does not desire us to be ignorant
as to what that looks like. In other words, if there is a
true inward walking with the Spirit, there's true faith and
looking to Christ, there will always be an outward manifestation
of it. It's never kept inside. I always
like to say that when the woman that heard Brother Ralph Barnard,
the Lord saved her, and she wanted to do some. She said, what would
I do? And he said, don't worry, it'll get out on you. It will. Whatever God produces inside
will work itself out. And the man in which it doesn't,
something's wrong with that man. There's something wrong with
that faith that does not yield love toward others, that does
not yield goodness toward others or kindness toward others. That
kind of faith is not true faith. True faith humbles us. True faith
causes us to submit to the will of Christ. And so then let's
see this. We'll go through these verses
together this morning and see what this attitude and actions
of walking in the Spirit is. Look at verse 1. Brethren, if
a man be overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual restore
such an one in a spirit of meekness. Now listen, every believer in Christ. We should be the most
gracious and forgiving people toward everyone. There is no
excuse for us to be hostile or angry or violent toward anyone. No one. There's no excuse for
that. We of all people should be the
most humble and gracious people on the face of God's earth. We
should be this way toward everyone. Everyone. Seeing what God has
done for us. You see, you realize that you
can't have pride and believe in grace at the same time? You
know, you can't do that. There's no such thing as pride
of grace. You know that? Some said that's the worst sin,
the pride of grace. No, because that's not grace.
If you have grace at all, you can't be proud. You've got to
see where you came from. You must see who you really are.
You must see what great things God has done for you. And in
doing so, you cannot look down on any man. You cannot do that. We should be this way to everyone,
but listen, especially to our brethren. Especially to those
who are of the household of faith. Look at that in verse 10. He
said, Paul said this in verse 10. As we have therefore opportunity,
let us do good unto all. Especially who? The church. Especially to those who are of
the household of faith. And so then, Paul first, in displaying
the attitude of grace, he shows us the love of brethren toward
other brethren. He said, "...if a man be overtaken
in a fault, in a sin, you that are mature spiritually restore
such in one." Our attitude toward those who are weak in faith,
those who are weak in love and grace, ought to be one of love
and tender care. When a believer falls into sin,
when he is deceived by his own flesh and falls into many foolish
and hurtful lusts, what is to be our attitude? toward him. Is it to be, well I told him
so, is it to be one of superiority
as though we could never do such a thing? No, when a believer falls into
sin, our attitude who is spiritual, mature, who is walking in the
Spirit, is to restore the fellowship of the saints. Listen, many so-called
churches spend a lot of time talking about church discipline. They see somebody taken in a
fault, in a sin, and they feel it is their obligation to correct
them. It is their obligation to chasten
them. It is their obligation to discipline
them. No, it is not. It is our obligation
to preach the Word, and yes, be unbending when God says something. We are to call sin, sin, and
we're not to be, to beat around the bush about this. If a man
is in sin, that is just an obvious statement of truth. And no matter what you do to
shame that person, you're never going to cause them to return.
That is God's business. What is our business? What is
our work? It is to extend love and grace
when God restores them. When God causes them to see their
sin and turn, it is our business then to embrace them and receive
them again. Without doubtful disputation. Without hypocrisy. Love them completely as though
they had not committed anything. restore them. We should restore them because
Christ has already restored them. What is it our business to excommunicate
them, or try to shame them, or try to... You know, churches
have these... They call them enforcers. I'm
serious. I knew a man that was one. And
the Lord saved him out of that, but he... He was an enforcer. Big fella. He'd go to your door,
and he'd knock on your door, and he'd come in, and he'd start
browbeating you. That's not love. That's pride. Arrogancy. The attitude of love and grace
is to restore that one. If one poor soul who's been deceived,
a sheep of Christ, has gone astray, it may be any number of sins.
Any number of sins. Fornication, adultery, uncleanness,
a drunkenness, whatever it is. It may be like these Galatians.
These Galatians committed a horrible sin in leaving Christ. They were
following another gospel. Paul was even doubtful that they
were believers at all. But Paul said this, if they return,
receive them. If they repent, receive them.
And I want you to know, they don't need to repent to you.
They don't need to repent to the church. I'm telling you this
is going on where people have to actually get up and repent
before the church. As though they sinned against
the church. Sin is against God. And if the
man repents toward God, restore such in one. How? In meekness. In meekness. In humility. In love. You should restore Him
even as Christ restores you daily. Isn't that right? Daily, how many times do you
plead for mercy and forgiveness? And how often does Christ reject
you? Never once. Remember when Peter said, how
often should I forgive my brother? Seven times. No. Seventy times seven. An infinite
amount of times is how many times you should forgive your brethren
that sins against you. This is the attitude of grace. You want to walk in spirit, this
is it. This is it. How are we to do this? The second
thing, our attitude towards ourselves. You cannot do this, have the
right attitude toward a fallen brethren without a right attitude
of yourself. A right understanding. Notice
what he says. In meekness, what? Considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted. As we seek to restore our brethren
in meekness instead of pride and self-righteousness, we must
first consider that this truth, I'm only a sinner saved by grace. We must remember that our flesh,
at its best, is still altogether vanity. That we ourselves are
still prone to every sin, even the sin that our brother has
committed. How many times have we been foolish
enough to say, well, I never Well, you know, if that was me,
I would have done this. What is that but pride? Arrogancy. The flesh. If you think you're beyond any
sin, if you really believe in your heart you were never able
to commit such a vile act as your brother, listen, you have
already committed a worse sin. Pride. Self-righteousness. Whatever your brother did, you've
just done something infinitely worse. Paul said, Wherefore let him
that thinketh. Now listen, it's only a thought. If any man thinketh he stand
on his own two feet, well I'm standing on my own two feet.
No, you just think you are. Any man thinketh he standeth,
take heed, lest he fall." That man is ready for a great fall. We are all still sinners in our
flesh, still prone to any sin, and so when our believer brethren
falls, let us restore him, considering ourselves, that we are just as
prone to be tempted and fall as they are. Now what I don't want you to
do is, I think I'm saying this, we do not concede that sin is
good. We're never to concede that sin
is good. or to let them think that sin
is acceptable. That's what the church is doing
today. They're just letting people in, thinking, well, just be tolerant
with it. That's not what we're saying
by this. We're talking about a man who has been broken by
God, a man who has been made aware and exposed of his sin
and repentance toward God, and weeping over his sin. This is
a man that has been broken by Christ, not one who is stern
in his sin. You remember that man in the
Corinthian church who was committing incest? The apostle said, turn
him over to Satan. That's it, you know. But what happened when that man
came back? What did Paul do? Restored him. The man repented
in 2 Corinthians. You find that out. He repented
that. He restored the man. That's what we're to do. We're
to do this. Now consider yourself that you
are too prone to sin. Verse 2, bear ye one another's
burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now listen, every
believer suffers. Every believer suffers in the
body, sicknesses and trials and difficulties and troubles, but
especially those who are overtaken in a fault. There is the worst
suffering a believer could face, is when he is exposed of his
sin and knows of his guilt and shame, and is laid bare before
his brethren concerning his sin. What if your thoughts were revealed? What if our thoughts were to
be able to put up and expose in front of everybody? I tell you, we probably wouldn't
even want to get out of our homes with the embarrassment and shame. But yet, if that were capable,
how should we receive the one whose thoughts were exposed? considering ourselves, then bear
under their burden with them. Speak to them, encourage them,
strengthen them in the Word of God that this is true. All is
well. All is well. Christ has died. Your sin is gone. Encourage them
in the gospel. Restore them in the fellowship
and union of the church. We're to bear under their burdens
considering ourselves. And listen, this word restore,
I want you to know what that means. It's as though one was
setting a broken bone. If your arm was broken, how would
you desire someone to set that bone? With anger? Would you want somebody to be
gentle? Kind? And so as you restore, you set
someone else's broken bone, you should consider yourself, lest
you be broken, lest your arm be broken. Well, you know old Joe, I tell
you what, I told him a thousand times not to do that. Look at
him now, he's gone, I ain't gonna help that fool. Is that not walking in the flesh? That's not walking in the Spirit,
is it? Have someone say, well, I got
too much to do, too much on my plate. I can't help other people.
I can't help them. I got so much to do with my family,
my property, my job. I can't bear under anyone's burdens.
What is that but selfishness? The flesh? No. To have the fruit
of the Spirit is love and meekness and bearing under the burdens
of others. Helping them. Not just saying
you're helping them, but really doing something for them. If they have needs, fulfill their
needs. If they need an ear, listen. If they need an embrace, embrace
them. Give whatever it takes to bear
under the burden of others. And what do you do when you do
that? Thus, you fulfill the law of Christ. Don't you know we
have a law? We're not antinomians here. We
have a law. The law is faith in Christ and
love. That's our law. And listen, if
you're doing one, if you're looking to Christ, you will have love.
And you will bear under one another's burdens, fulfilling the law of
Christ. And consider this about yourself.
You and I are nothing. Do you not understand that about
yourself? You and I are nothing. Now what Paul said about himself,
he said, who is a Paul? Who is Apollos? But ministers,
by whom you believe, even the Lord gave to every man. I planted
Apollos water, God gave the increase, so then neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth. We're not anything, but God gives
the increase. Believer, who maketh you to differ
from another? Who? You? Do you have anything
in you that makes you to differ from your fallen brethren? Nothing. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What hast thou that hast not received? If you've
kept from sin, who kept you? If you're not overtaken, who
kept you from being overtaken? Who made you to differ from another? Now if you did receive it, why
do you get glory as though you did not receive it? Don't you see the attitude we
should have toward one another and toward ourselves? I should
see you as everything and I should see myself as nothing. This is walking in the Spirit.
This is where the rubber meets the road, friends. This is true
Christian living. And listen, this is not a suggestion.
You suppose this is a suggestion? No. It's the law of Christ. This is how we should live. I
should live for you, and you should live for me. You should
bear my burdens, forgive my sin, and I should bear your burdens
and forgive your sins, restore you if you're fallen. Paul said this, let all bitterness
and wrath and envy and clamor and evil speaking be put away
from you. How? With all malice. Be ye kind one
to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another." How, Paul? Even
as God, for Christ's sake, forgiveth you. This should truly be the attitude
of grace toward everyone who is walking in the Spirit of Christ. I've got plenty more there, but
I'm going to close with that. are you walking in this period
do you are you born again in the spirit of god then let us
walk in the spirit as is our responsibility to exercise the
fruit of the spirit that god is put into every one of us Have you loved enough? It's a silly question. The answer
is always no. I can always love more. Have
you believed enough? Are you meek enough? Are you
patient enough? Are you long-suffering enough?
Lord, increase our faith. Increase our love. increase our
joy, increase our peace, increase all these fruit of Thy Spirit,
and then give us the power to exercise what You've given us,
and then in the end, in the end, after we have done all, let us trust in none of it, looking
only to Jesus Christ, and giving all the glory to God. Pray God
will help us in this.